Transcript

00:00:00

>> Asian car makers could hit the brakes after Brexit. Toyota and Nissan among many fretting about uncertainty ahead, warning they may slow down investments in their UK factories or even suspend them if Britain leaves the EU. As Reuters Nori Shirouzu reports, that's ominous news in a country where 800,000 people work in the auto sector.

00:00:21

>> They would probably look for a cheaper place to produce. So if you are going to sell cars in the EU, most likely they are going to want to produce those cars within the EU. UK not being part of the EU means that they might lose production based there to the EU.

00:00:42

>> Relocating from Britain to Europe would be a long-term project for Asian automakers. In the near term there's another issue to worry about, tariffs. Right now, most of the vehicles made in the UK are exported to and sold in Europe duty free. Toyota says whatever trade deal gets hammered out after a Brexit, any new trade tariffs would significantly hit their bottom line.

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>> Many automakers think that there's going to be a 10% duty on British goods being exported to the EU. So if that happens, there's going to be a higher cost either passed on to customers. Somebody would have to absorb that higher costs themselves.>> In the short term, Asian car makers say they'll hold back on new investment in the UK.

00:01:24

That could mean no new models rolling off the factory floors in Britain, with a worrying knock-on effect when it comes to jobs.